Austrian nationalism

Austrian nationalism is the nationalism that asserts that all Austrians are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Austrians. While the nationalist movement in Austria began during the Napoleonic Wars, it was not until the 1930s that a unique brand of nationalism arose in Austria, called Austrofascism. The main belief of Austrofascism was that Catholic Austria should not join a Protestant-dominated Germany unless Austria was granted privileged status in a union. This tenet of Austrofascism set it apart from Nazism, and it created friction with the banned Austrian Nazi Party. After the 1938 Anschluss and World War II, Austrian nationalists rejected a German cultural identity in favor of a new Austrian identity, claiming that Austrians were actually Celts (Austria does have one of the largest collections of Celtic artifacts) and claiming descent from the Celts, Illyrians, Romans, and Slavs instead of the Germans. In 2008, 90% of Austrians saw themselves as an independent nation from Germans.